War and Anti-War Films
"War and Anti-War Films" often acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting or conflict (against nations or humankind) provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. Typical elements in the action-oriented war plots include POW camp experiences and escapes, submarine warfare, espionage, personal heroism, "war is hell" brutalities, air dogfights, tough trench/infantry experiences, or male-bonding buddy adventures during wartime. Themes explored in war films include combat, survivor and escape stories, tales of gallant sacrifice and struggle, studies of the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and intelligent and profound explorations of the moral and human issues.
Listed below are all the very best of this genre. Scroll yer heart out....
The Charge of the Light Brigade (Blu-ray) (1968)
7.1/10
Director: Tony Richardson
Starring: John Gielgud, David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Trevor Howard
October 25, 1854: Balaclava, the Crimea; military minds blunder and six hundred gallant Britishers, sabres flashing, ride to their deaths. David Hemmi... Read more
The Chess Player (1927)
6.9/10
Director: Raymond Bernard
Starring: Pierre Batcheff
In 1776, an inventor conceals a Polish nobleman in his chess-playing automaton, a machine whose fame leads it to the court of the Russian empress. Read more
The Cockleshell Heroes (1956)
6.7/10
Director: Jose Ferrer
Starring: Jose Ferrer, Trevor Howard, Victor Maddern
Inspired by a true story, the film follows a group of ten `canoe-commandos` who are taken, by sub-marine, close to the French coast. They must make a... Read more
The Colditz Story (1955)
7.1/10
Director: Guy Hamilton
Starring: John Mills, Eric Portman, Lionel Jeffries, Ian Carmichael, Richard Wattis
An exciting war thriller about a group of POWs held by the Nazis in a castle that's been turned into an 'escape-proof' prison. Read more
The Conference (2022)
7.3/10
Director: Matti Geschonneck
On January 20, 1942, leading representatives of the German Nazi regime met in a villa in Berlin-Wannsee for a meeting that went down in history as the... Read more
The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
7.6/10
Director: George Seaton
Starring: William Holden, Lilli Palmer, Hugh Griffith
William Holden stars as Eric Erickson, a Swedish-American businessman blackmailed by British Intelligence into posing as a Nazi sympathizer while actu... Read more
The Counterfeiters (2006)
7.6/10
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky
Starring: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach, August Zirner
In pre-WWII Germany, Salomon Sorowitsch is a world-class counterfeiter, being also a Jew he is soon arrested and put in a concentration camp, but as t... Read more
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
7/10
Director: Otto Preminger
Starring: Charles Bickford, Elizabeth Montgomery, Gary Cooper, Ralph Bellamy, Rod Steiger
Gary Cooper (High Noon) portrays a controversial American hero in this electrifying, true story of one of the most sensational military trials in U.S.... Read more
The Cruel Sea (1953)
7.7/10
Director: Charles Frend
Starring: Jack Hawkins, Stanley Baker, Donald Sinden, Denholm Elliott
One of the great war films, full of atmospheric detailing which captures the essence of the Battle of the Atlantic. Read more
The Dam Busters (1954)
7.4/10
Director: Michael Anderson
Starring: Ursula Jeans, Michael Redgrave, Richard Todd
Richard Todd and Michael Redgrave star in this film about the development of a specially designed ordinance, the aptly named 'bouncing bombs', used to... Read more